European Union: a leader in regulation?
I have to confess I am fascinated by the EU’s seeming determination to lead global tech regulation, and whether this is a good thing.
Positioning a region as a leader in regulation is a complex strategic move. In general, such positions usually come about as a result of other factors, rather than a conscious decision.
It is clear that, as I noted in my article on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) a couple of weeks ago, the legacy of US Common Law has, with its “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it” approach, enabled an environment that is generally more conducive to innovators and innovation. In contrast to this approach, which allows companies to develop products and services with almost total freedom that is only curtailed when there are clearly negative effects, European Civil Law, which is also in force in territories such as Latin America, adopts a much more pro-active stance, seeking to protect citizens from any possible negative effects that the regulator might foresee and which tends to overreact to any hint of social alarm in…
